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Energy Procedia 75 (2015) 277 – 282

The 7th International Conference on Applied Energy – ICAE2015

Design of Hydrokinetic
Turbine Blades Considering Cavitation
Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas da Silvab, Léo Daiki Shinomiyaa, Taygoara
Felamingo de Oliveirab, Jerson Rogério Pinheiro Vaza, André Luiz Amarante
Mesquitaa,*, Antonio Cesar Pinho Brasil Juniorb
a
Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 01 - Guamá. CEP 66075-110. Belém - Pará - Brasil
b
Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro,CEP 70910-900. Brasília -DF - Brasil

Abstract

The cavitation is a phenomenon that must be considered into a hydrokinetic turbines design. This assumption has
been explored in the last years, principally for the turbine with large diameter, once the relative velocity near the
hydrokinetic blade tip is increased, resulting in large angle of attack. Therefore, a mathematical approach for design
of hydrokinetic blades is presented. In which a methodology for cavitation prevention is employed. The approach
uses the minimum pressure coefficient criterion as a cavitation limit for the flow on the blades. The proposed
methodology modifies the local relative velocity in order to prevent the cavitation occurrence on each blade section.
The results are compared with data from hydrokinetic turbines designed using the classical Glauert’s optimization,
on which the proposed approach provides good performance, where the chord distribution along the blade is
corrected, and can be used for efficient hydrokinetic turbines design.

Published
© 2015 The by Elsevier Ltd. This is anbyopen
Authors.Published accessLtd.
Elsevier article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ICAE
Peer-review under responsibility of Applied Energy Innovation Institute
Keywords: Hydrokinetics Turbines, Cavitation, Blades Optimization, Marine Energy.

1. Introduction

Hydrokinetic turbines have been recently used as converters of marine energy in electricity [1].
These technologies have become significant due to the increasing use of renewable energy sources with
low environmental impact. The maximization of the power coefficient is fundamental in the hydrokinetic
turbine design in order to improve the extraction of energy from water flow in rivers, marine and tidal
currents [2, 3]. The present work describes an approach applied to the hydrodynamic optimization of
horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbines rotors, considering the search of optimum shape design of the blade
with a correction to avoid the blade cavitation. In general the optimization models of hydrokinetic turbine
blade are based on the BEM (Blade Element Momentum) method. These models are the most frequently

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +55-91-3201-7962; fax: +55-91-3201-7109.

E-mail address:andream@ufpa.br.

1876-6102 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Applied Energy Innovation Institute
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.343
278 Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas da Silva et al. / Energy Procedia 75 (2015) 277 – 282

used by scientific and marine power industry communities for design and analysis of hydrokinetic rotors.
BEM method is essentially an integral method, with semi-empirical information from hydrodynamics
forces in hydrofoil sections, issued from two-dimensional airfoil flow models or experimental data [4, 5].
Such models are direct applications of the approaches developed for the case of wind turbines, e.g. Rio
Vaz et al. [6] present an optimization model for the chord and twist angle distribution of horizontal axis
wind turbine blades, taking into account the influence of the wake of the rotor. For the hydrokinetic
turbines design, it is important to take into account the possibility of cavitation [7], since, in water, the
emergence of the pressure field near to the vapor pressure frequently occurs, causing undesirable erosion
on the rotor blades and loss of the produced power [8]. In the literature there are few publications that
consider the cavitation occurrence in hydrokinetic turbines design. Goundar et al. [9] show numerical and
experimental studies on hydrofoils for marine current turbines, where a hydrofoil is designed to perform
well at tip-speed ratios between 3 and 4, avoiding cavitation inception and also having good
hydrodynamic performance. Batten et al. [10] developed a study for the prediction of cavitation for
certain cases with relatively shallow tip immersion. It was found that cavitation could be avoided with the
use of suitable designs and choice of 2D sections. Sale et al. [11] show a method of optimizing
hydrokinetic blade using genetic algorithms to design cavitation free rotors and BEM method to
determine the produced power. Thus, this work proposes a methodology for design of hydrokinetic rotors
so that to consider a criteria of minimum pressure coefficient as a limit for a flow without cavitation on
the hydraulic profile. The proposed model is an extension of the classical Glauert’s optimization model
[12], on which the effect of cavitation is considered. A correction on the thrust coefficient (or load factor)
is performed, where the minimum pressure coefficient is used as a limit in order to avoid the blade
cavitation. In the calculation of the optimum shape of the hydrokinetic blade, the chord and twist angle
are corrected. The results are discussed and compared with the Glauert’s optimization model showing
good performance.

2. Mathematical Model

2.1. BEM Method

The Blade Element Momentum (BEM) is a widely used approach for the analysis and design of
hydrokinetic turbines. This approach, combining the basic principles from both blade element and
momentum theories, is inherently steady, two dimensional, stems from the equivalence between the
circulation and momentum theories of lift, and allows estimating the inflow distribution along the blade.
Thus, it is possible to determine the optimal geometry of a hydrokinetic blade using BEM method. As it is
well known, in this method the blade is divided into a number of elementary stream tubes (called ”strips”)
along the radius, where a force balance is applied involving two-dimensional profile lift and drag along
with the thrust and torque produced within the strip. At the same time, a balance of axial and angular
momentum is applied. According Rio Vaz et al. [6], the BEM present good agreement with experimental
data. Therefore, the coefficients of normal and tangential forces are defined by:

Fn
Cn CL cos I  CD sin I , (1)
1
UW 2 c
2

Ft
Ct CL sin I  CD cos I , (2)
1
UW 2 c
2

where Fn and Ft is the normal and tangential forces, ρ is the density, c is the chord, CL and CD is the lift
and drag coefficients, respectively. The relative velocity, W, is given by:
 Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas da Silva et al. / Energy Procedia 75 (2015) 277 – 282 279

W [V0 (1 a)]2  [:r (1 ac)]2 , (3)

where V0 is the free stream velocity, Ω is the angular speed, r is the radial position, a and a' is the axial
and tangential factors, respectively. The angle of flow ϕ is defined as:

1  a V0
tan I . (4)
1  a ' :r
Thus, it is possible to express the thrust and torque coefficients, CT and CM, as

2 2
dT §W · § V1 ·
CT ¨ ¸ V Cn ¨ ¸ V Cn , (5)
1
UV02 dA © V0 ¹ © V0 sin I ¹
2

2 2
dM §W · § V1 ·
CM ¨ ¸ rV Ct ¨ ¸ rV Ct , (6)
1
UV02 dA © V0 ¹ © V0 sin I ¹
2

where V Bc 2S r , CT is the thrust coefficient, CM is the torque coefficient, dT and dM are the
differential of thrust and torque, respectively, acting over a blade section. The axial and tangential
induction factors (a and a') are obtained classically by follow relations:

a V Cn
, (7)
1 a 4 F sin 2 I

a' V Ct
. (8)
1 a ' 4 F sin I cos I

where F is the Prandlt tip-loss factor. The Prandlt tip-loss model is the most accepted correction
employed and is usually taken as corresponding to a model of the flow for a finite number of blades [6].
The power coefficient (Cp) of the turbine can be expressed as a function of the induction factors,
since the aerodynamic characteristics of the blade profile are available. Thus, the Cp is given by:

P 8 O
Cp
1
U AV03 O 2 ³0
a ' 1  a x3 dx , (9)

where
x :r / V0 and O :R / V0 .

2.2. Cavitation Prevention Criterion

Cavitation is a phenomenon that should be considered on the hydrokinetic turbines design [9]. Its
effect causes structural damage to turbine blades, reduces its performance, and in general, is originated in
the blade section where the pressure decreases below the vapor pressure of the fluid. The liquid vaporizes
280 Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas da Silva et al. / Energy Procedia 75 (2015) 277 – 282

instantly, forming a cavity of vapor, which alters the flow. The shape and size of the bubble also varies as
consequence of the action of the pressure and velocity fields. When the vapor cavity implodes, the
pressure on the blade surface increases, promoting erosion on the blade. The failures caused, decrease the
lift and increase the drag, leading to a reduction of the turbine efficiency. It can be predicted by
comparing the local pressure distribution with the cavitation number [11]. The cavitation number σ, is
classically defined as

patm  U gh  pv
V , (10)
1
UW 2
2

where patm is the atmospheric pressure, ρis the water density, g is the local gravity, his the distance
between the free surface and the radial position on the hydrokinetic rotor, pv is the vapor pressure at flow
temperature, and W is the relative velocity on a blade section. There will be cavitation on a blade section
if the local minimum pressure coefficient, Cpmin, is lower than the cavitation number σ. The minimum
pressure coefficient is an important parameter at the hydrokinetic turbines design. It gives information on
the hydrodynamic loading of the blades, and it is defined as the minimum value of the pressure
coefficient on the suction side of the blade section. This coefficient can be used as a criterion to avoid the
cavitation, given by V  CPmin t 0 [13]. Using the definition of pressure coefficient and the expression for
the cavitation number, it is possible to define a critical velocity which produces a local pressure equal to
vapor pressure as

Patm  U gh  Pv
VCAV . (11)
1
U CPmin
2

Thus, the criterion to avoid cavitation requires that relative velocity, W, at each blade section along
the radial coordinate, must be smaller than the velocity VCAV . In other words, if W t VCAV then the local
relative velocity must be corrected.In the context of BEM methods, it’s can be made by replacing W by
WCAV 1  f S VCAV in the calculus of the chord lenght, alway that W t VCAV .Here, fS is an arbitrary safety
factor defined in the interval [0,1[. Replace W by WCAV in sections where W t VCAV leads to an increase in

 
2
the chord length. The Eq. (5) can be used to provide an expression for c in terms of V0 / W and the
other quantities in right hand side of Eq. (11). Thus, in the blade sections where the criterion is achieved,
is easy to show that the ratio between the corrected and uncorrected chord lengths, c co and cuc , is

2
c co ª W º
« » . (12)
cuc ¬ (1  f S )VCAV ¼

In the blade sections, which satisfies the cavitation criterion, the relative velocity W is greater than
VCAV, and one conclude that cco ≥ cuc.

3. Results and discussions

In order to evaluate the performance of the optimization model with cavitation was considered a
horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbine using the hydrofoil NACA 65 3− 618 with Reynolds number of 3 ×
106, where the design parameters are described in Table 1. The hydrodynamic parameters such as the lift,
 Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas da Silva et al. / Energy Procedia 75 (2015) 277 – 282 281

drag and minimum pressure coefficients were obtained using the free software XFOIL, which is a
coupled panel/viscous code developed at MIT [17]. XFOIL is a collection of programs for airfoil design
and analysis for incompressible/compressible viscous flows over an arbitrary airfoil. In this code, a zonal
approach is used to solve the viscous flow indirectly and an equivalent inviscid flow is postulated outside
a displacement streamline that includes the viscous layer, becoming a powerful software for aerodynamic
design, and present good agreement when compared with experimental data[15].

Table1: Design parameters used in the simulation of the horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbine.

Parameters Values
Turbine diameter (D) 10.0 m
Hub diameter (d) 1.5 m
Number of blades 3
Water velocity (V0) 2.5 m/s
Water density (ρ) 997 kg/m3
H 6m
Patm 1x105 Pa
Pv 3.17x103 Pa
Gravity (g) 9.81 m/s2
Safety factor (fS) 5%
Constant rotational speed 35 rpm

Table 2 shows the hydrokinetic rotor geometry, Reynolds number (Rec = Wc/ν, where ν is the
kinematic viscosity), minimum pressure coefficient and cavitation number in relation to the radial
position. Fig. 1a shows that the cavitation occurs approximately at 70% of the blade for the rotor
operating at 35 rpm. The model promotes the correction on the blade chord as consequences of
modification on the relative velocity, as shown in Fig. 1b. This occurs due to the relative velocity, become
higher than the cavitation velocity. For radial positions, r/R, higher than 0.7, the term
^W `
2

¬ª1  f S VCAV ¼º is higher than 1. After correcting, the relative velocity takes values always lower
than VCAV.

Fig. 1.(a) Chord distribution. (b) Relative and cavitation velocities as a function of the radial position.

4. Conclusion

The model described in this work is an approach to be used in the design of hydrokinetic turbines
blades, which corrects the shape of the blade, aiming to prevent the cavitation. The present technique is
an extension of the classical Glauert’s optimization [12], on which is imposed a correction scheme in
order to consider the occurrence of cavitation on the load factor (thrust coefficient). This model promotes
a modification on the local chord length of the blade, without major changes on the power coefficient of
282 Paulo Augusto Strobel Freitas da Silva et al. / Energy Procedia 75 (2015) 277 – 282

the turbine. The main contribution of this work is a criterion to identify the blade sections in which
^ `
2
cavitation may occur, where the chord length is corrected by the term W ¬ª1  f S VCAV ¼º . It is important
to note that the twist angle not presents major alterations due to the correction to influence directly the
chord distribution. Therefore, the present work is a tool, which can be helpful to those that have to
pretension of develop technologies to the use of marine, river and tidal energies. However, some
limitations should be analyzed carefully, as following: (1) develop comparisons with numerical and
experimental data; (2) promoting analysis of the model at the off design condition using the BEM
method.

5. Copyright

Authors keep full copyright over papers published in Energy Procedia.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thanks CNPq, CAPES, PROPESP/UFPA and ELETRONORTE for
financial support.

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Biography
Obtained BSc in mechanical engineering (1984), MSc in aerospace engineering (1987), in
Brazil, and PhD from Grenoble Institute of Technology, France (1992). At present is
Associate Professor at Federal University of Pará, Brazil. His research areas are
turbomachinery, renewable energy, multiphase flows and bulk solid flows.